Direction-indicator



W. G. McMILLAN.

DIRECTION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION man MAR. I4. 1911.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

WILLIAM GEORGE MOMILLAN, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

DIRECTION-INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Application filed March 14, 1917. Serial No. 154,840.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Gnonen Mc- MILLAN, a citizen of the United States, re siding at 696 East 51st street, in the city of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Direction- Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to direction indicators and consists of the novel features herein shown, described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a view from behind and above the front seat ofan automobile, and showing direction indicators embodying the principles of my invention in position for use upon the wind-shield.

' Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the electric circuits.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section upon an enlarged scale on the lines 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 5.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the lines 44 of Figs. 1, 3 and 5.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on a plane parallel with Fig. 1; and on the lines 55 of Figs. 3 and 4. p

In actual practice the direction indicators 1 and 2 are made right and left, so as to be applied one at the left hand side of the wind-shield and the other at the right hand side, as shown in Fig. 1. The details of construction of the two indicators 1 and 2 are substantially the same, and in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 I have shown the details of the direction indicator 1.

The housing consists of a back plate 3;

side plates 4 and 5 extending from the sides of the back plate 3; plates 6 and 7 extending from the top and bottom of the back plate 3; the plates-4, 5, 6 and 7 forming an .irregular rim around the edge of the back plate 3 toform a box having a chamber 8; and a cap plate 9 is secured to the plates 4, 5, 6 and 7 by small cap screws 10 so as to close the box.

A vertical semi-circular bearing face 11 is formed upon the outer side of the back plate 3 to fit against the front half of a wind-shield frame 12 carrying a wind-shield 13. A clamping-plate. 14 has a similar semicircular face 15 fitting the rear side of the wind-shield frame 12 and held in place by bolts 16.-..A motor 17 is mounted endwise upon an attaching plate 18 secured to the inner face of the back plate 3 by screws 19.

The disk 23 is mounted upon the motor shaft 21. A shaft 25 is mounted with its inner end extending into the back plate 3 and its forward end extending through the cap 9, said forward end being reduced to form a shoulder so that the cap holds the shaft in place. 'A bearing 26 is loosely .mounted upon the shaft 25 against the inner face of the back plate 3 and an arm 27 extends radially from the bearing 26, there being a binding post 28 in the outer end of the arm.

A semaphore head 29 is keyed upon the shaft 25 against the bearing 26 and an arm 30 extends outwardly from the head 29 and has an end 31 extending into the plane of the outer end of the arm 27, said end 31 carrying a binding post 32. The posts 28 and 32 are insulated from the arm in which they are mounted.

A semaphore arm 33 extends from the opposite side of the head 29 from the arm 30, said arm 33 being hollow and there being a lamp 34 mounted in a casing 35 at the outer end of the arm 33. A bearing 36 extends from the head 29; a crank 37 is mounted upon the motor shaftand a link 38 connects the crank 37 to the bearing 36.

A lug 40 extends from the top plate 6 to engage the outer end of the arm 27 and limit the swing of the arm in an outward direction. A sprin 40 connects the arm 27 to the housing, t e tension of the spring being exerted to hold the arm 27 against-the lug 40. The bearing 36 is directly opposite the semaphore arm 33. The arm 30 is slightly inclined relative to a vertical line as seen in Fig. 5. The lug 40 is so located that when the arm 27 is against the lug 40 and the semaphore arm 33 in vertical position hanging downwardly, the circuit is broken between the binding posts 28 and 32.

A disk 41 is pinned to the inner face of the cap plate 9 and has radial grooves 42 in its inner face. A second disk 43 is Slidingly and non-rotatably mounted upon the shaft 25 and has tongues 44 snapping into the grooves 42. A spring 45 is mounted upon the shaft 25 between the head 29 and the disk 43 to hold the disk 43 in engagement with the disk 41.

A push button contact 46 is mounted upon the steering wheel 47 and a wire 48 runs one way from the push button to the motor 17 and a wire 49 runs the other way from the push button through the battery 50 to the motor 17. A light wire 51 runs from the binding post 32 to one side of the battery 50 and a wire 52 runs from the other side of the battery through the lamp 34 to the binding post 28.

When it is desired to operate the left hand direction indicator 1 to indicate that the automobile is to turn to the left, the push button 46 is pressed to close the circuit, the motor 17 operates to rotate the crank 37 over to the right when seen as in Fig. 5, and pull the link 38 to swing the semaphore arm 33 outwardly to a horizontal position. As soon as the arm 33 starts to swing the light circuit will be closed by the binding post 32 contacting with the binding post 28 and the lamp will be illuminated; and as the arm 33 swings outwardly the disk 43 will snap over the disk 41 and when the motor circuit is discontinued the tongues 44 snapping into the grooves 42 will hold the semaphore arm extended.

When it is desired to lower the semaphore arm the push button is again operated to close the circuit, to rotate the crank 37 around its normal position. When the contacts 32' and 28 come together continued operation of the semaphore arm 33 will expand the spring 40 until the semaphore arm 33 Lemma returns to its normal position, when the arm 27 will strike the lug 40 before the arm 33 comes to rest; and continued movement of the arm 33 to a vertical position will break the contact.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed. t

I claim:

In an automobile signal, a housing, a shaft mounted in the houslng, a bearing loosely mounted upon the shaft, an arm extending radially from the bearing, a semaphore head keyed upon the shaft, a second arm extending outwardly from the head and extending into the plane of the outer end of the first arm, a lug extending from the housing to engage the outer end of the first arm and limit the swing in an outward direction, and a spring connecting the first arm to the housing the tension of the spring being exerted to hold the arm against the lug, so that when the semaphore head swings one way the second arm will swing away from the first arm, and when the semaphore head swings the other way the two arms will'come into contact.

WILLIAM GEORGE MCMILLAN. 

